ANKARA: Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture, NACCIMA, has appealed to Turkish investors to invest in Nigeria to help grow the country’s economy and also reap the dividends of their investments.
The President of the Association, Chief Bassey Edem, said there was need for the Turkey investors to bring down their businesses into Nigeria, adding that the country has been taking advantage of Nigeria’s raw materials while exporting its finished products into the country thereby affecting Nigeria’s productivity.
Edem, who made the appeal at the just concluded Buildmacex and Interior Expo 2015 in Lagos, told the Turkish investors to leverage on the business opportunities in Nigeria by bringing down their investments into the country.
Represented by the Director General of the Association, Emmanuel Cobham, the association’s President advised investors form Turkey to produce their goods in Nigeria instead of carting away raw materials and bringing the finished products in return.
According to the NACCIMA boss, the Turkey investors would contribute positively to the Nigerian economy if they could invest in machineries and technologies to add value to the Nigerian raw materials within its territory.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Hakan Cakil, promised that the Turkish Government would be ready to invest in the production section of the Nigerian economy.
He noted that the volume of trade between Nigeria and Turkey in 2014 stood at $2.5billion.
The Envoy said he had talked to the Turkey’s investors to take Nigeria as their points of productions, adding that part of his efforts was the presence of the Turkey’s business men at the Buildmacex and Interior Expo 2015 to showcase their products as well as networking and making partnership with the Nigerian investors.
The Managing Director of Atlantic Exhibitions, the organizer of the Buildmacex and Interior Expo 2015, Ayo Paul, said there was new trend in business networking going on globally, which has been the new approach in the development of nations’ economies.
According to him, it became a necessity for every stakeholder to support the Nigerian government in the development of the country’s economy by bringing potential foreign investors into the country. He added that the government should also create conducive environment while encouraging public private partnership, PPP, to drive the development of the economy.